Conor McGregor physique change: How has the Irishman's body changed after his brutal leg injury?

Former two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor suffered a serious leg injury when facing Dustin Poirier for a third time in 2021. The Irishman lost after just one round due to a doctor's stoppage after being deemed unable to continue fighting. However, since the injury, McGregor has made some visible improvements to his physique, as seen from recent training images.

The Irishman fought Poirier in the 155lbs division and his physique can be seen below. The image was taken at the UFC 264 weigh-ins and is a good illustration of McGregor's shape before injuring his leg.

McGregor at the UFC 264 weigh-ins

However, the Irishman now looks a lot bigger than 155lbs, and he has even hinted about fighting at a higher weight class within the UFC. Earlier this year, 'Notorious' posted a tweet on his social media, suggesting that he is eyeing a move to a bigger weight division upon returning.

Two weeks ago, Conor McGregor posted some photos of himself during a boxing session. The images clearly show the former UFC champion with much bigger arms than when he faced Poirier.

McGregor recently joked on Instagram that he's starting to look like the "SBG gorilla" logo due to his latest body transformation. Once again, he looks significantly bigger than what he was at the UFC 264 weigh-ins back in 2021.

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What happened to Conor McGregor's leg and how was it fixed?

According to Dr. Chris Raynor, an orthopedic surgeon, Conor McGregor suffered a combined fracture of the tibia and fibula. The injury was fixed while undergoing a three-hour surgery that saw an intramedullary nail repair the tibia, with plates and screws fixing the fibula.

Despite the injury leaving McGregor sidelined for quite a while, the surgeon believes the Irishman may gain a slight advantage from the intramedullary nail, which acts as a bone while healing:

"However, once healed, it is still in the bone, so it does offer an element of protection against further fracture."

Watch Dr. Chris Raynor speak about the injury below:

Raynor explained that due to McGregor having extra protection in his tibia, the bone will be able to withstand a lot more damage than before and it should be much harder to injure again.